Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Old Enough

Thanksgiving has rolled around once again and you know what that means...it's the one and only day of the year we have to think about something we're thankful for. Well, you can be thankful for stuff on the other days of the year if you want, but I'm pretty sure it's federal law to be thankful for something on Thanksgiving.

I have a rather lengthy list of things I'm thankful for, but since this blog is about aging I thought I would focus on one thing in particular. I am thankful for being old enough...

...old enough to know better, but still young enough to try. I did a lot of stupid things in my younger years and I even learned from one or two of them. Do I still do stupid things now that I'm older? Of course I do. The difference now though is that I understand the consequences so I pick my stupid things more carefully.

...old enough to have learned a lot, but still young enough to have plenty left to learn. I have been blessed to have experienced many different things in life. Private schools and public schools. Civilian life and military life. Southern living and Northern living. A quite varied work history, The list could go on. Having a wide range of experiences taught me that the more I learn, the more I have left to learn. There's no end in sight.

...old enough to have kids of my own, but young enough to still act like a kid myself. I like to pretend like I'm a mature adult whenever I can, but my two little girls know I'm more of a big kid at heart. I have the joy of guiding my girls on their path to adulthood while spending plenty of time teaching them how to be kids.

...old enough to not be a newbie in the workforce, but young enough to make considerable advancements in the remainder of my career. Taking the first steps in your career is new, fun and exciting, but it's not as much fun as being the older wiser mentor. I am just old enough to enjoy both aspects. Training and developing others while still having mentors above me to train and develop me.

...old enough to string a series of coherent thoughts together in a blog, but young enough to get away with all my grammatical errors. OK, so maybe it's not my age that lets me get away with that, but rather the fact that you all think I'm doing it intentionally to be silly. Maybe it's the inner kid in me that just wants to keep everything light and fun. Maybe it's laziness. It sounds like to much work to figure it out - so I'll let you make up your own mind.

Many thanks to all of you out there for reading. Whether you're young at heart or wise beyond your years, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you have the opportunity for some fun, food and family in a day filled with laughter. Until next time....